An explosion in the al-Maza neighborhood of Damascus, which houses the Iranian embassy, has reportedly resulted in at least one death.
The Jerusalem Post citing Syrian sources said the incident occurred early Saturday morning and has escalated tensions in an area already fraught with conflict.
The identity of the dead, a man “close to Iran,” has not been disclosed. The explosion follows a series of targeted attacks in the same district, including an air strike last month attributed to Israeli forces.
That attack killed several senior members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, including senior commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi, intensifying the ongoing shadow war between Israel and Iran in the region.
In retaliation, Iran executed a direct assault on Israel on April 13, launching hundred of drones and missiles, marking an escalation in their confrontations.
However, Israel in turn retaliated with a precision strike on a military base in Isfahan, central Iran.
Reports indicate that shortly before Zahedi’s assassination, the Iranian diplomatic residences were about to be relocated to a new apartment complex on the same street. The move was cancelled at the last minute during a meeting of the senior echelons of the Revolutionary Guards, who chose to remain in the consul building.
Iran’s participation in the Syrian civil war, backing President Bashar al-Assad since its onset over a decade ago, has sparked disputes with Israel. Perceiving Iranian forces in Syria as an imminent threat, Israel has regularly targeted their bases and arms depots starting in 2017.
